Pathological Spectrum and β-APP Immunoreactivity as a Diagnostic Tool of Diffuse Axonal Injury following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Novel Classification.

 Different deposition patterns and grading systems used to define and identify DAI remain discordant and to date these are a challenge in clinical practice. Our main objective was to study the post-mortem axonal changes and develop a grading system to identify DAI on the basis of histopathological and immunoreactive β-amyloid precursor protein (β-APP) observations in severe TBI cases.  Prospective study with 35 decedents with sTBI (GCS score ≤ 8) was conducted and samples were collected from three different sites-corpus callosum, thalamus and brain stem.

Molecular signature of postmortem lung tissue from COVID-19 patients suggests distinct trajectories driving mortality.

To elucidate the molecular mechanisms that manifest lung abnormalities during severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections, we performed whole-transcriptome sequencing of lung autopsies from 31 patients with severe COVID-19 and ten uninfected controls. Using metatranscriptomics, we identified the existence of two distinct molecular signatures of lethal COVID-19. The dominant 'classical' signature (n=23) showed upregulation of the unfolded protein response, steroid biosynthesis and complement activation, supported by massive metabolic reprogramming leading to characteristic lung damage.